


Fall in love again

by Kagetsukai



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Rare Pairings, kissing day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 11:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12057957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kagetsukai/pseuds/Kagetsukai
Summary: It's the Kissing Day and the festival in Kirkwall is in full swing. Varric finds himself chaperoning Bethany Hawke as she enjoys the activities, but little does he know that the feelings he's been harboring for the beautiful mage may not be one-sided.





	Fall in love again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyNorbert](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNorbert/gifts).



> Note: In this universe, Bethany doesn't go to the Circle, nor does she become a Grey Warden. She just hangs out with Garrett at the mansion and gets annoyed with his antics.

Varric Tethras had not considered himself to be a sentimental man so the fact that he was spending yet another Kissing Day Festival with Bethany Hawke should have tipped him off that his growing attachment to the younger Hawke sibling had long since moved past the initial infatuation stage. Still, he had a hard time being upset when he got to watch a beautiful women enjoy herself while she drank freshly made apple cider, ate a ton of cotton candy and cooed at all the cute baby animals that were available for purchase at multiple stalls.

“You know those animals get purchased only to be returned, en mass, to local shelters that may or may not be able to reallocate them?” he pointed out after tearing her away from another box full of multicolored kittens.

She shot him a downright nasty glare and scoffed.

“If you’re going to be such a Debbie downer, Varric, you can always go home and be a grumpy curmudgeon all by yourself,” she said.

“And leave you to be scalped by all the merchants or robbed by the urchins? Not on my life, Sunshine,” he grumbled. “Hawke would have my skin.”

Bethany rolled her eyes.

“I am perfectly capable of defending myself, you know?” she said and lowered her voice. “I’m a mage, after all. You don’t need to babysit me just to appease my overbearing brother.”

Varric briefly thought how Garrett’s appeasement was the last reason why he offered to escort Bethany around the festival, but he kept those words hidden tightly behind his teeth.

“Let’s keep that pretty face of yours out of the Gallows, shall we?” he said with a smirk. “Isabela would be devastated if you got yourself apprehended by the Templars.”

A soft blush colored her pale cheeks at the compliment. The laugh that followed rang like a silver bell for the midday Chant and the sound soothed the dark corners of Varric’s soul.

“Yes, she would be so disappointed if she couldn’t inflict her raunchy jokes on my poor, innocent ears.”

He squinted at her. “I highly doubt you’re as innocent as you say you are, Sunshine.”

The glance and the shrug she shot him were positively flirty and he felt himself smile back.

“We may never know,” she replied in a sing-song voice and promptly stepped ahead of him. “Let’s get home, shall we? I want to freshen up before the theater production tonight.”

Even though Bethany picked up her pace, she remained mindful of his shorter stride, which Varric felt immensely grateful for; the last thing he need was to ungracefully pant and huff in front of a beautiful woman. They arrived at the mansion fairly quickly, completely unmolested by any unsavory element. If Bethany noticed it, she did not mention it at all.

Once at the Amell Mansion, Varric made himself comfortable in the sitting room while the one who secretly held his heart retreated to her upstairs room. He watched her go and he quietly admired her beautiful form, the gentle sway of her hips, or the fall of her long, black hair. With that image burned into his mind, his thoughts drifted off and he promptly lost track of time.

Perhaps he would have waited an eternity for Bethany Hawke to get ready for the evening, his mind crafting a string of unlikely scenarios of his doomed romance, but the sudden sound of giggles coming from her room immediately piqued his interest. She had gone in alone.

Sneaking up the stairs and towards her room, Varric used all of his skills as a thief to make sure he moved silently; the last thing he needed was to be found in Bethany’s room without a ready explanation. Once at the door, he leaned in, hoping to hear the sounds from inside. To his surprise, he heard Isabela’s voice.

“Just a couple more hair pins and you’re ready to go, sweetness.”

For the life of him, Varric could not understand why that pirate woman was in Bethany’s room, _doing her hair_ , out of all things.

“Do you think he’ll like it?” he heard her ask in a timid, unsure voice.

 _He_? Varric quickly wrecked his brain, trying to figure out which man could have caught Bethany’s eye and drew a blank. She used to have a crush on Anders at one point, but he had been certain she had moved on from that. Something about being possessed by a spirit of Vengeance had really turned her off.

“Honey, when he sees you all dolled up like this, he will have no choice but to ravish you on the spot,” Isabela replied in a drawl.

A soft giggle tinkled from beyond the door.

“I think I will settle for him seeing me as a woman and not as Hawke’s kid sister.”

Something nagged at Varric from the corners of his mind, but as much as he tried, the puzzle would not fall into place. The missing pieces stayed just outside of his reach and he sighed in frustration; he needed to be more daring to achieve his goal.

As quietly as he could manage, he leaned in towards the tiny space between the door and the frame, and peeked inside. He could see the rough picture of both women, one sitting and one standing, but the thing that really caught his eyes was the enormous stuffed animal that sat in Bethany’s lap. It was the ugliest cat on the planet, all brown and gray and patched up, but Bethany cradled it to her body like it was the most precious piece of jewelry she owned. It took all of Varric’s experience and training to keep a surprised gasp from escaping his lips. He tiptoed back down the stairs, found the chair he had been previously occupying, and fell into it with a heavy thump.

It had been exactly two years prior that he had offered to win that stupid stuffed animal from a merchant that had clearly stacked the odds against any potential contestants. Varric being Varric, he saw the way Bethany coveted that ugly thing, so he made short work of the weighted arrows and the poorly constructed bow. The thankful grin she gave him that day may have been the beginning of these ill-advised feelings. Which he now had a strong suspicion were reciprocated.

Any further thoughts he might have had were promptly wiped from his mind the moment he heard a soft tap of shoes against the stone floor. He stood up and watched in wordless awe as Bethany fucking Hawke descended down the staircase looking like a vision sent from Andraste herself. The dress she chose to wear was of deep burgundy color that subtly accented the curve of her breast and fell perfectly around her hips in cascades of crushed velvet. A gold ribbon lined the edges of her sleeves and collar, twinkling in tandem with the woven belt that cinched her waist, rounding out the sparkle with a lovely necklace that forced his eyes towards the visible swell of her chest.

By the time Varric’s eyes finally fell upon her face, a beautiful blush had already colored her porcelain cheeks. Her lips had been highlighted with a lovely shade of red and her sparkling eyes were gently lined with kohl, making sure that by the time she stepped on the ground floor, he stood perfectly still, captivated by her gaze.

“Hi,” she said quietly and broke him out of his stupor.

Feeling drunk and reckless, he reached for her hand with slightly shaking fingers and pressed her knuckles to his lips. He may have heard her breath stutter at the contact, but it did not matter anymore.

“You look beautiful tonight, Bethany,” he said in a voice that definitely sounded gruffer than usual. “Shall we head out?”

Her eyes widened at the use of her given name, the chocolate brown sparkling with emotions Varric was not yet willing to decipher.

“Of course,” Bethany said and smiled as she moved past him.

He once more watched the sway of her hips, slightly exaggerated by the shoes she wore, admired the beautiful slope of her shoulders only partially covered by the cascade of raven hair, and the shy little smile she sent him when she turned to make sure he was following.

And he knew, then: Hawke would _definitely_ have his skin.

**Author's Note:**

> This had started as an innocent prompt for SecondSeal's Kissing Day event, which then turned into an entire fic about these two idiots. I'm not even sure what happened, but it's cute so I will take it! I hope everybody enjoyed this little blurb of happiness.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are my lifeblood, so don't be shy :D If you're interested in chatting, I practically live on [Tumblr](https://kagetsukai.tumblr.com/).


End file.
